Description: These fast warships help safeguard
larger ships in a fleet or battle group.
Features: Destroyers and guided missile destroyers operate in support
of carrier battle groups, surface action groups, amphibious groups and
replenishment groups. Destroyers primarily perform anti-submarine warfare duty
while guided missile destroyers are multi-mission (ASW, anti-air and
anti-surface warfare) surface combatants. The addition of the Mk-41 Vertical
Launch System or Tomahawk
Armored Box Launchers (ABLs) to many Spruance-class destroyers has
greatly expanded the role of the destroyer in strike warfare.
Background: Technological advances have improved the capability of
modern destroyers culminating in the Arleigh Burke (DDG 51) class. Named
for the Navy's most famous destroyer squadron combat commander and three-time
Chief of Naval Operations, the Arleigh Burke was commissioned July 4,
1991, and was the most powerful surface combatant ever put to sea. Like the
larger Ticonderoga class cruisers, DDG 51's combat systems center around
the Aegis combat system and the SPY-lD, multi-function phased
array radar. The combination of Aegis, the Vertical Launching System, an
advanced anti-submarine warfare system, advanced anti-aircraft missiles and Tomahawk
ASM/LAM, the Burke class continues the revolution at sea.
The DDG 51 class incorporates all-steel construction. In 1975, the cruiser
USS Belknap (CG 26) collided with USS John F. Kennedy (CV 67).
Belknap suffered severe damage and casualties because of her aluminum
superstructure. On the basis of that event, the decision was made that all
future surface combatants would return to a steel superstructure. And, like most
modern U.S. surface combatants, DDG 51 utilizes gas turbine propulsion. These
ships replaced the older Charles F. Adams and Farragut-class
guided missile destroyers.
The Spruance-class destroyers, the first large U.S. Navy warships to
employ gas turbine engines as their main propulsion system, are undergoing
extensive modernizing. The upgrade program includes addition of vertical
launchers for advanced missiles on 24 ships of this class, in addition to an
advanced ASW system and upgrading of its helicopter capability.
Spruance-class destroyers are expected to remain a major part of the
Navy's surface combatant force into the 21st century.
Point of Contact:
Public Affairs Office
Naval Sea Systems
Command (OOD)
Washington, DC 20362
General Characteristics, Arleigh Burke class
Builders:
Bath Iron Works, Ingalls Shipbuilding
Power Plant: Four General
Electric LM 2500-30 gas turbines; two shafts, 100,000 total shaft
horsepower.
SPY-1 Radar and Combat System Integrator: Lockheed
Martin
Length:
Flights I and II (DDG 51-78): 505 feet (153.92 meters)
Flight IIA (DDG 79-98): 509½ feet (155.29 meters)
Beam: 59
feet (18 meters)
Displacement:
Hulls 51 through 71: 8,315 tons (8,448.04 metric tons) full load
Hulls 72 through 78: 8,400 tons (8,534.4 metric tons) full load
Hulls 79 and on: 9,200 tons (9,347.2 metric tons) full
load
Speed: in excess of 30 knots
Aircraft: None. LAMPS III
electronics installed on landing deck for coordinated DDG 51/helo ASW
operations
Ships:
USS
Arleigh Burke (DDG 51), Norfolk, Va.
USS Barry (DDG 52), Norfolk, Va.
USS John Paul
Jones (DDG 53), San Diego, Calif.
USS Curtis Wilbur (DDG 54),
Yokosuka, Japan
USS Stout (DDG 55),
Norfolk, Va.
USS John S. McCain
(DDG 56), Yokosuka, Japan
USS
Mitscher (DDG 57), Norfolk, Va.
USS
Laboon (DDG 58), Norfolk, Va.
USS
Russell (DDG 59), Pearl Harbor, HI
USS Paul Hamilton (DDG 60), Pearl
Harbor, HI
USS Ramage (DDG 61),
Norfolk, Va.
USS
Fitzgerald (DDG 62), San Diego, Calif.
USS Stethem (DDG 63), San Diego, Calif.
USS Carney (DDG 64), Mayport,
Fla.
USS Benfold (DDG 65), San
Diego, Calif.
USS Gonzalez (DDG
66), Norfolk, Va.
USS Cole (DDG 67),
Norfolk, Va.
USS The Sullivans
(DDG 68), Mayport, Fla.
USS Milius
(DDG 69), San Diego, Calif.
USS
Hopper (DDG 70), Pearl Harbor, HI
USS
Ross (DDG 71), Norfolk, Va.
USS
Mahan (DDG 72), Norfolk, Va.
USS Decatur (DDG 73), San Diego,
Calif.
USS McFaul (DDG 74),
Norfolk, Va.
USS Donald Cook (DDG
75), Norfolk, Va.
USS Higgins (DDG
76), San Diego, Calif.
USS O'Kane
(DDG 77), Pearl Harbor Hawaii
USS
Porter (DDG 78), Norfolk, Va.
USS Oscar Austin (DDG 79), Norfolk,
Va.
USS Roosevelt (DDG 80),
Mayport, Fla.
USS Winston S.
Churchill (DDG 81), Norfolk, Va.
USS Lassen (DDG 82), San Diego,
Calif.
USS
Howard (DDG 83), San Diego, Calif.
USS Bulkeley (DDG 84), Norfolk,
Va.
McCampbell
(DDG 85), under construction
Shoup
(DDG 86), under construction
Mason (DDG 87), under construction
Preble
(DDG 88), under construction
Mustin
(DDG 89), under construction
Chafee (DDG 90), under construction
Pinckney
(DDG 91)
Momsen
(DDG 92)
Chung-Hoon
(DDG 93)
Nitze
(DDG 94)
James
E. Williams (DDG 95)
Crew: 23 officers,
300 enlisted
Armament: Standard
missile; Harpoon;
Vertical
Launch ASROC (VLA)missiles; Tomahawk
ASM/LAM; six Mk-46
torpedoes(from two triple tube mounts); one 5"/54 caliber Mk-45 (lightweight
gun); two 20mm Phalanx
CIWS
Date Deployed: July 4, 1991 (USS Arleigh Burke)
General Characteristics, Spruance class
Builder: Ingalls
Shipbuilding
Power plant: Four General Electric LM 2500 gas turbines,
two shafts, 80,000 shaft horsepower
Length: 563 feet (171.6
meters)
Beam: 55 feet (16.8 meters)
Displacement: 8,040 tons
(8,168.64 metric tons) full load
Speed: in excess of 30
knots
Aircraft: Two SH-60
Seahawk LAMPS III helicopters
Ships:
USS Spruance (DD 963), Mayport,
Fla.
USS Paul F. Foster (DD 964),
Everett, Wash.
USS Kinkaid (DD
965), San Diego, Calif.
USS Elliot (DD 967), San Diego,
Calif.
USS Arthur W. Radford (DD
968), Norfolk, Va.
USS Peterson
(DD 969), Norfolk, Va.
USS
Oldendorf (DD 972), San Diego, Calif.
USS John Young (DD 973), San Diego,
Calif.
USS O'Brien (DD 975), Yokosuka, Japan
USS Briscoe (DD 977), Norfolk, Va.
USS Stump (DD 978), Norfolk, Va.
USS Nicholson (DD 982), Norfolk,
Va.
USS Cushing (DD 985),
Yokosuka, Japan
USS O'Bannon (DD
987), Mayport, Fla.
USS Thorn (DD
988), Norfolk, Va.
USS Deyo (DD
989), Norfolk, Va.
USS Fife
(DD 991), Everett, Wa.
USS Fletcher(DD 992), Pearl Harbor,
Hi.
USS Hayler (DD 997), Norfolk,
Va.
Crew: 30 officers, 352 enlisted
Armament: 8 Harpoon
(from 2 quad launchers), Tomahawk
ASM/LAM, VLS or ABL; Vertical
Launch ASROC (VLA) missiles; six
Mk-46 torpedoes (from 2 triple tube mounts); two 5"/54 caliber Mk-45
(lightweight gun); two 20mm Phalanx
CIWS
Kidd class only:
Standard missiles; NATO Sea
Sparrow point defense AAW missiles
Date Deployed:
Sept. 20,
1975 (USS Spruance)
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